The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  Where would she go now?

  The answer came to her quickly. Elaeavn.

  She took a deep breath, Sliding away.

  When she emerged, she paused long enough to ensure that she could still detect Daniel. Strangely, holding on to what she could Read of him became easier the longer she did it. She could use him to tie herself to the ship, to anchor to it, as it were.

  The city stretched out beneath her. She had Slid to the wall surrounding the Floating Palace, not having been here since leaving the city long ago. Lucy tried not to think about why she had chosen to come here. It wasn’t as if she had ties to the palace the way Daniel did. She was never going to serve on the council, though she had trained to be a caretaker.

  And it wasn’t because of her ties to her family. Since losing her sister, Lucy hadn’t felt the same connection to her family as she once had. That was part of the reason she’d spent so much time in the forest. It wasn’t that she felt at home there, though she had felt more at home in the forest than she ever had within the palace. It was more a matter of her wanting to be away.

  She should return, but now that she was here, she was curious. Lareth could Slide into the palace, unimpeded by the protections placed upon it. Could she do something similar now that she had her enhanced abilities? It was something she hadn’t tested before, but she had to wonder if perhaps she could.

  And if she could, then she could return to the palace anytime she wanted. Maybe there would be other places she could go that wouldn’t restrict her. The C’than strongholds had prevented her from Sliding inside, but maybe other places wouldn’t be off-limits to her.

  And wouldn’t it be valuable for her to try?

  Where would she attempt to go in the palace?

  The answer came to her at the same time as she attempted to Slide.

  There was resistance, the sense of pressure against her, but she felt as if she could overpower it. Lucy kept pushing and emerged inside the library.

  It was dim, only a single lantern lit, and no sign of any caretakers inside the library. Even though it was dim, she was able to See everything quite clearly. It was easy for her to do. She looked around the rows of shelves, her gaze sliding along, wondering if there might be something in here that would help her understand more. And perhaps there was, but it would have to wait. Right now, she would need to return to the ship, mostly so that it didn’t get too far away and she didn’t lose track of Daniel’s mind.

  As she started to Slide, a voice caught her attention, and Lucy hesitated before pushing through it, focusing on Daniel as she Slid, and emerging briefly on the deck of the ship. When she did, she hurriedly Slid again, emerging once again in Carth’s quarters.

  Carth studied her for a moment. “How did that go?”

  “Easier. It seems as if I can hold on to someone’s mind better the longer I do it.”

  “Where did you travel this time?”

  “To Elaeavn.”

  Carth smiled. “Homesick?”

  “I think I did it mostly to find out whether or not I could.”

  “And now that you have proven you can?”

  “I’m not restricted the way I was before.”

  “Were you worried that you were?”

  “There is value in knowing that I wouldn’t be limited.”

  “It’s my understanding that it’s difficult for people with your particular ability to travel into the palace.”

  “It always had been before.”

  “It’s not now?”

  “I was able to push past it. The heartstone was no longer limiting as it once had been.”

  Carth watched her, and Lucy could feel a sense of amusement within her. It practically radiated from her, the only emotion she could Read from the other woman.

  “You wonder if you might be able to push past the protections the C’than place around the strongholds?”

  “I do.”

  “It’s possible that with enough time you could.”

  Lucy took a deep breath, “Are you ready to come with me?”

  Carth frowned. “Not yet. I think you should practice a little bit more before you attempt to bring someone with you.”

  “I think you’re just trying to get me off the ship.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “I have no idea, but this is about more than practice.” More likely than not, it was all part of some game Carth was playing, similar to the board she sat next to.

  “Try again. And when you return, then we can see if you can bring someone else with you.”

  Lucy took a deep breath, focusing once again. Where would she go this time? She thought of all the places she had traveled with Carth, all the various C’than strongholds, and while it was tempting for her to go and visit, to see if there was anything she would be able to do, that wasn’t where she went. Instead, she found herself drawn in a different direction. This one brought her away from the ship and guided her someplace that she and Carth had been briefly.

  The jungle loomed in front of her, and Lucy stared at it, trying to get a sense of what might be inside the jungle, what she might be able to uncover if she went there, but there didn’t seem to be anything. The heat and humidity immediately struck her, sweat trickling down her back. She watched the edge of the jungle, searching for signs of movement. They hadn’t had an opportunity to explore it before, partly because Carth had wanted to return to Asador, and partly because they had wanted to continue to investigate whether the C’than posed any real dangers to them. Alera—and whoever had been with her at the university—had acted alone, or at least without the permission of others.

  She stared at the trees, and at the jungle, searching for anything that might explain whether there was a way into the jungle without wandering through it by foot. Lucy wasn’t that skilled a woodsman to be able to travel without difficulty, and she didn’t trust herself not to get lost, but then, it probably didn’t matter. She wouldn’t get lost going by foot. She could always Slide away, return to where she had started.

  Breathing in the scent of the jungle, she was taken by the strangeness of the aromas she noticed. It was so different from anywhere else, and the mist rising up from the forest floor seemed to promise even more strangeness within the forest itself. From here, when she would Slide, the landscape changed, becoming more temperate, warm beaches and sand and crystal-blue water. It was different than the rocky coast she had known in Elaeavn, the same rocky coast she had known in Asador.

  When she had come with Carth, there had been a sense of peace. That sense remained, and she breathed deeply, savoring the jungle, thinking of the sandy shores. She could escape there, relax, and stay. She didn’t have to be a part of any of this. She could be free.

  Wasn’t that what she wanted?

  Then again, what she had wanted was an opportunity to travel, explore the world, to see things she could never imagine in Elaeavn. She’d wanted a chance to see the places she had read about in the books in the Elvraeth library.

  Wasn’t that the better life for her?

  It certainly gave her a very different understanding of the world. She had seen so much, had done far more than she could ever have believed herself capable of doing, and she had come to realize that she was more than she had once believed.

  Lucy started into the forest, letting the mist swirl around her. As she went, she made sure that she still had the ability to detect Daniel’s mind. It was still there, faint, but the urgency of his battling with Rayen at the forefront of his mind made it easy enough for her to track him. Now that she had proven that was the key, she thought she could follow it quite easily.

  The jungle swallowed her.

  The trees were nothing like those she had experienced in Elaeavn. The trees of the Aisl had towering trunks with massive branches that swept overhead, their huge leaves granting shade, blocking out all light. These trees were more enormous, stretching much higher overhead, to the point where the upper branches were barely visible for her. She strai
ned, thinking that she could Slide to the upper branches, but decided against it. Instead, she continued into the jungle, passing enormous vines that dangled between branches. The underbrush was thick, forcing her to twist and step over things, and as she went, she continued to wind through the forest. It would be incredibly difficult to Slide through here. It was almost as if this place had been made to be difficult to Slide through.

  The idea of that intrigued her. Without having any way of maneuvering, she would likely end up stumbling over something in the forest, and if she did, it would be dangerous, potentially fatal if she Slid where she should not.

  Lucy hesitated. She had been gone long enough. With each passing moment, she could tell that her concentration was shifting, and her connection to Daniel Elvraeth was also beginning to shift. She needed to get to him soon, or she worried that she would lose the sense of him altogether.

  And she needed to get back so that she could figure out what Carth wanted from her. There was something the other woman wanted; whether that was merely for Lucy to go with her, to get a sense of the abilities she had to Slide and return to the ship, she didn’t know.

  When it came to Carth, there were often things she didn’t know.

  Lucy’s gaze lingered as she looked around the forest. There was something here, something she thought she should know, and the longer she stared, the more certain of it she was. But if she lingered, she might harm the people who were waiting for her.

  Lucy hurried forward, weaving through the trees and winding around the underbrush until she finally came across a small clearing. She fixed this place in her mind, using it for a return point if she ever had the opportunity to do so.

  Holding on to her connection to Daniel, she Slid.

  When she emerged, she found that he was near the railing of the ship. He stared out over the water, looking into the distance, and she could Read concerned thoughts from him. Within his mind were thoughts of her, his worry about how she had changed, and what that meant for her. A part of her longed to go to him, to reassure him that she was fine, that she was handling this transition as well as could be expected.

  And yet, Carth still needed her.

  More than that, Lucy no longer thought she and Daniel could be anything more than friends, if she had ever thought otherwise. She cared about him—given where they had come from and the fact that she had grown up around him, she didn’t know how she could not care for him—but she couldn’t return to Elaeavn and be that person he remembered, the person he had cared about. Whatever else would happen for her, she was destined to be something else. She could live blaming the Forgers for that, or she could choose to be thankful that she was no longer going to be that same person. Which would it be?

  As strange as it was for her to consider, she didn’t blame the Forgers for what had happened to her. As odd as that had to be for Daniel, she felt as if the Forgers had given her a gift. And it was a gift that she was determined not to waste.

  Then again, it wasn’t even the Forgers who had gifted her. It was the C’than.

  It was easy to forget that it wasn’t the Forgers, easy for her to lose track of the fact that someone else had been responsible for the changes that had been inflicted upon her, but she had spent so much of her life fearing and hating the Forgers that she blamed them for all the things that had happened.

  Maybe it was time for her to blame someone else. Maybe it was time for her to realize that everything that had happened wasn’t necessarily for the worse.

  And maybe it was time for her to better understand the C’than. If they had the ability to do this to her, to grant her these changes, what else could they do?

  As she thought about it, she wondered if perhaps that wasn’t something Carth was trying to show her. Could it be that Carth wanted her to know there was something more? Could that be why Carth had been taking her to the C’than strongholds?

  Smiling to herself, she focused on the quarters below. As she started to Slide, she could feel Daniel beginning to turn toward her. Lucy almost hesitated, almost waited, but she didn’t. She completed the Slide, emerging once again near Carth in her quarters. The other woman looked at her, a question in her eyes, almost as if Carth could Read her, and Lucy only nodded.

  “I think I’m ready.”

  15

  Daniel

  Daniel swung the sword around, blocking the blow coming at him. He kept his opponent in front of him, holding the sword—much longer than what he was accustomed to using in Elaeavn—with two hands as he had been instructed, twisting with his movements, not wanting to be caught off guard again. Each time he moved off to the side, he found himself forced back toward the stern of the ship and into a position he didn’t want to be in. It placed him in a weakened state, and he hated that.

  “Keep your blade up,” Carth instructed off to the side.

  Daniel didn’t know if her words were for him or for Isabel, the Binder he faced. When Carth had suggested sparring, he had been reluctant at first, especially since he didn’t think it was fair for him to face off against a woman, regardless of the fact that she would have had training from Carth and Rayen. Both of them carried blunted swords, the edges dulled by some strange connection to Rayen and Carth’s shadow magic, and he was thankful for that. Had they not, the injuries to his arm would have been much worse.

  Isabel lunged forward, twisting as she did, bringing her blade in a tight circle.

  She was incredibly skilled. As she attacked, he was forced to stay back, but she had positioned herself in such a way that the railing of the deck blocked his movement. Isabel seemed to sense his hesitation, and she grinned at him.

  Great Watcher, but she was skilled.

  She slipped off to the side, a move she had tried before, and he ignored it, twisting and dropping down, sweeping his blade toward her feet. She jumped over it with one foot, but he brought it up, in a movement that would slice through her thigh.

  But she was gone.

  Daniel slammed into the railing, and were it not for some barrier that he couldn’t see, he would’ve tumbled over the edge.

  Isabel reappeared and shoved the long edge of her blade up to his neck.

  Daniel held up his free hand. “I yield.”

  She nodded and turned from him.

  She’d handed her sword over to one of the other Binders, and Daniel stood watching her. Isabel was lithe and had strength that didn’t fit with her figure, and she had moved far faster than he would’ve expected. He still didn’t know what sort of magic she and the others had, though it was not insignificant.

  “You lost track of her,” Carth said as she approached.

  “She wasn’t supposed to use her abilities.”

  “Just because you couldn’t use yours?”

  Daniel nodded.

  Carth grinned. “It doesn’t always work like that.”

  “Wait… you told her she could use her powers?”

  “What sort of power do you think she used on you?”

  Daniel shrugged. “I don’t exactly know. There was something.”

  The way she had simply disappeared, only to reappear, told him that she had used some magic on him. He had sparred with only one other of the Binders, and she didn’t have the same skill set as Isabel. While Daniel hadn’t necessarily handled her, it had been a much more even match. With Isabel, there was nothing even about it. She had overpowered him quite easily.

  “What did we talk about with dicing?” Carth asked.

  “That it won’t always roll the way you think it should.”

  “Exactly. And do you think a fight should be the same or different?”

  “I didn’t think that you would have me sparring so unbalanced.”

  “What is balance but a perception of right and wrong? I would have you be prepared for anything thrown your way.”

  “Is this about the attack in Thyr?”

  “This is about understanding that your abilities have limitations. This is about pushing yourself so that
you can be stronger than those limitations. This is about being ready for the possibility that your opponent will not play fair.”

  “Why are you pushing me like this?”

  “Because you travel with me.”

  “That’s the only reason?”

  Carth smiled. “I’ll admit that I should have played a greater role with your people before now, but that’s a mistake I intend to remedy.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you will be needed.”

  “No. Why haven’t you been involved before now? You obviously know Galen and Rsiran.”

  “Partly because Rsiran had promised he would ensure a certain level of competence.”

  “He has done…” Something, he didn’t add. Daniel didn’t really know what Lareth had done to protect their people.

  “And it has not been enough.”

  Daniel sighed, looking over to where Lucy spoke softly with one of the other women. It was Eleanor, a blonde-haired woman with bright blue eyes; Daniel knew nothing about her abilities, other than the fact that she had been chosen by Rayen to travel with them. That suggested she had significant skill, as did all the women who traveled with Rayen.

  “Most people in Elaeavn are like me. Not too many of us have taken the time to understand our abilities.” Not like Lareth, at least. “I never took the time to fully explore all of mine.” He had trained with the sword, but that had been a distraction more than anything else. He had never devoted himself to Sliding the way he should have.

  “Do you think that makes you less worthy?”

  “I’m not sure about worthy, but I do know I should have been doing more than I was before.”

  “And do you think you’re the first person who refused to acknowledge a threat that exists? Do you think you’re the first one who failed to identify that threat when it was in front of them?”